As if tearing through the ACC regular season to go undefeated for the second consecutive year, extending its ACC winning streak to 45 games and notching its third ACC Championship in as many years was not enough, the Virginia men’s tennis team added a little icing on the cake: Showing no mercy, the No. 1 Cavaliers achieved an unprecedented ACC Championship feat by sweeping each match, 4-0.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment, and I’m really proud of the team and everyone that put so much effort into the program,” Virginia coach Brian Boland said. “Each year brings a new challenge, and any time you win an ACC championship, it’s something that you have to enjoy.”
One week after dismantling No. 20 Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C. by a score of 6-1, Virginia (29-0) took on the Demon Deacons (20-9) for the second time in Cary, N.C. in the tournament finals. The result of the match — a Virginia victory — was the same, but the implications were even sweeter with an ACC Championship on the line. After the Cavaliers grabbed the doubles point, No. 17 senior Dominic Inglot struck first in singles with a 6-4, 6-3 win against No. 12 senior Cory Parr to extend the lead to 2-0.
“It’s something Dom’s been striving for a long time now — to rise up to big moments,” Boland said. “He did it this past weekend.”
Virginia sealed the victory with triumphs from freshman Drew Courtney and sophomore Sanam Singh at the No. 5 and No. 2 singles slots, respectively.
“I don’t think many people expected us to do this after losing Somdev,” Singh said, noting the departure of former teammate and 2007 and 2008 NCAA singles champion Somdev Devvarman.
The Cavaliers began tournament play in the same way they ended it — with utter domination.
Virginia’s quarterfinal match against No. 8 seed North Carolina featured a doubles rematch of Inglot and sophomore Michael Shabaz’s senior day loss against the No. 16 ranked duo of junior Clay Donato and senior Taylor Fogleman. This time around, however, the pair delivered a convincing 8-3 trouncing that set the tone for the rest of the match and even the tournament.
“Michael and Dom just came out and returned so well,” Boland said. “I believe they broke five straight times — which is almost unheard of, particularly at No. 1 doubles, where you usually see a lot of big servers — so they were just hitting the ball, returning extremely well, probably as well as I’ve seen Dom return all year. That was the key to their success against North Carolina.”
After clinching the doubles point with another 8-3 victory for Singh and junior Houston Barrick in the No. 2 slot, the Cavaliers cruised in singles with wins from Shabaz, Courtney and junior Lee Singer.
In one of the more enticing matchups of the tournament, Virginia advanced to the semifinals to play No. 4 seed Florida State. In a tightly contested regular season match March 29, the No. 16 Seminoles nearly snapped the Cavaliers’ undefeated streak with wins at both No. 1 and No. 2 singles. With a trip to the ACC finals at stake, however, Inglot and Singh came through with two crucial wins. After dropping the first set to No. 51 sophomore Clint Bowles, 1-6, No. 27 Singh bounced back to take the next two matches, 6-3, 6-2.
“I just hung in there and took the second set and had momentum with me,” Singh said.
An important factor all weekend for the Cavaliers was Shabaz’s doubles play. Although Inglot struggled at times, Boland said, Shabaz remained poised at all times.
“Michael, from a doubles standpoint, was consistent all weekend and was probably the best doubles player on the court the entire weekend of any team that I saw play,” Boland said. “He has an unbelievable gift and he put it to good use this past weekend.”
Coming off a strong individual performance in the ACC tournament, Shabaz is now preparing for the NCAA Tournament at Texas A&M in three weeks.
“We need a little bit of luck — that always helps,” Shabaz said. “Fitness is a big thing; it’s [going to] be really hot in Texas.”
The Cavaliers find themselves in a similar position to last year’s team: undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation heading into the NCAAs. Last year, Virginia bowed out to No. 4 Georgia in the semifinals of the 64-team tournament.
“The one thing we need to continue to stress is to do what we did this past weekend,” Boland said, “which is to remain completely composed through each and every match.”
Although the team personnel has changed after losing three starters from last year’s squad, Boland said his approach will be similar.
“In both cases, we had an awful lot of confidence,” Boland said. “In most years, we peak this time of the year and use these particular three weeks to play our best tennis ... to go out and improve over the next three weeks, both physically and mentally.”
With only three weeks remaining in the postseason, the Cavaliers are not necessarily forgetting their success so far, but simply are focusing on what lies ahead.
“All we try to do in the NCAA Tournament is give ourselves a chance,” Boland said, “and we’ve done that for six plus years now, and I don’t think it’ll be any different this year. Hopefully this will be our year, and we’ll leave it out on the court.”
Notes: Against Florida State, Inglot won a 7-6, 7-6 nailbiter against No. 16 junior Jean-Yves Aubone ... Inglot and Shabaz, ranked No. 13 in the nation, dropped their doubles match against Wake Forest’s No. 11 team of senior Cory Parr and junior Steve Forman; Inglot/Shabaz won the teams’ regular season match ... By winning the ACC Championships, Virginia received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
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